Monday, August 16, 2010

1995 Topps: Part 1 (You Asked For It)

Much to my surprise, by more than a 2:1 ratio, you have voted for me to post a fully detailed box break of the 1995 Topps Series 1 box I picked up for $5 recently. Before anyone asks (and I'm sure you're all going to be lining up in the comments waiting to pounce on these cards) I will trade/send these cards out to those who have want lists for team collections first and secondly to anyone who just wants some cards or is collecting the set. That should still leave plenty for SpastikMooss.

Pack 1:

352 - Scott Kamieniecki (Scott says, "Settle in guys. This is going to be a bit of a hike.")

32 - Travis Fryman Cyberstats (One card per pack is a Cyberstats card, with "Spectra Light" foil stamped cards and a metallic background. This probably paved the way for Chrome the following year.)

130 - Jeff Conine (It's easy to forget that Conine actually played for the Royals before he was the Original Marlin.)

254 - Matt Whiteside

232 - Harold Baines

Pack 4:

191 - Roberto Hernandez

183 - Jason Jacome Cyberstats

169 - Roberto Mejia

243 - Melvin Nieves

42 - Jose Bautista

48 - Pete Harnisch (I'm pretty sure that's not proper form.)

285 - Greg Swindell

104 - Kenny Lofton

38 - Tim Wallach (The mere fact that "Triple-Crown" is mentioned in relation to Wallach's 1994 season is enough to convince me that 1994 was not a real baseball season. The success of the Expos is another.)

334 - John Flaherty

240 - Joe Carter

278 - Joe Grahe

13 - Kenny Rogers (I'll always remember the dirty hand.)

14 - Jose Vizcaino

7 - Trevor Hoffman

Pack 5:

65 - Rick Aguilera

82 - Paul Sorrento Cyberstats (I liked Sorrento growing up when he was a Twins prospect playing in Portland.)

294 - Steve Howe (Howe was a pretty effective pitcher when not suspended due to drug-related issues.)

259 - Mike Thurman Draft Pick

121 - Mike Morgan

171 - Calvin Reese Future Star (Better known as Pokey.)

147 - Ray McDavid Star Track (McDavid must have fallen pretty far off the track, because I've never heard of him.)

170 - Wade Boggs (Clearly, there was something unsavory on that base.)

146 - Ed Sprague

119 - Tony Fossas

344 - Kirk Rueter (Rueter would eventually gain the nickname "Woody" based on his resemblance to the character from Toy Story.)

281 - Mike Bordick

164 - Freddie Benavides

272 - Rich Rowland (There are roughly 500 base cards in this box and 396 in the Series 1 set. There will be doubles, but probably more than necessary.)

121 - Mike Morgan

Pack 6:

98 - David McCarty (Another Twins/Portland Beavers prospect that never quite set the league on fire.)

61 - Mark Grace Cyberstats (Ah, the beauty of the Cyberstats card back. The whole point of the Cyberstats thing was to "simulate" players' full season data as if the strike never happened... taking injuries and potential pitching matchups into account, no doubt. You can read all about this set, especially the card backs, over at Night Owl Cards.)

152 - Jose Offerman (I was going to make my Jose Offerman joke here, but I forgot to scan the card. Okay, fine. Jose Offerman is actually not committing an error in this picture. Well... you'll have to take my word for it. And here you probably thought I was going in a different direction with this.)

49 - James Baldwin Future Star

- Own the Game Instant Winner (I won! Wait... what did I win? A Kansas City Royals 1995 Spectra Light team set? Ah, I'm just almost 15 years too late. Does anyone have any of these team sets?)

138 - Rheal Cormier (Proud Canadian Cardinal.)

3 - Babe Ruth 100th Birthday (Before there were all of the Mantle cards, Topps honored The Babe with card #3.)

270 - Johnny Ruffin

327 - Randy Knorr

239 - Ben Rivera

44 - Bret Barberie (The goofy, puffy cloud photo is actually a common theme in this set as you'll find in the coming posts/days.)

338 - Stan Javier

312 - Jim Thome

223 - Todd Hundley

255 - Darrin Fletcher

Pack 7:

169 - Roberto Mejia

180 - Randy Myers Cyberstats

331 - Alex Cole

207 - John Wasdin Future Star

371 - Orlando Miller Star Track

209 - Tim Belcher

217 - Pat Mahomes (This is a nice set for the ex-Beavers. Mahomes was a fun flamethrower who could never really figure out how to keep the ball near the strike zone.)

24 - Rene Arocha (Arocha was one of the first Cuban defectors that I was aware of. He had a fairly short Major League career.)

342 - Scott Servais (Whoa, dude. This is another common theme in this set, as evidenced by the pack wrapper. Upper Deck popularized the whole multi exposure thing with their first few sets and Topps finally decided to copy them when they had probably moved on to some other gimmick.)

309 - Kevin Seitzer

194 - Travis Miller Draft Pick

210 - Jeff Montgomery

1 - Frank Thomas (I don't want to go all Steroids Debate on you, but I feel like Frank Thomas could have literally hit home runs with his arms. He didn't need any help and I'm pretty sure he didn't have any.)

7 - Trevor Hoffman

185 - Jeff Kent

Pack 8:

162 - Luis Gonzalez

39 - Joey Hamilton Cyberstats

183 - Jim Edmonds

95 - Mark Langston

LL5 - Moises Alou League Leaders (Ah ha! An insert card. Neither the pack wrappers or the box itself make any mention that there are inserts in this stuff beyond the Cyberstats cards, but according to the almighty Beckett, these were seeded at 1:6 packs.)

Sweeeet, nice cards! I agree on the Sabo comment...I used to get confused when I saw that card and then matched it up with my 1989 Topps or something as a kid. I thought there were 2 different Sabos for a little while.

That design is so horrid...but in 95 I was buying just about anything and everything baseball card related. When I went through my period of not collecting though I must've dumped all of these cards since I no longer have them. Odd...

One of the reasons I voted for you to show everything was to reinforce that I NEVER want to open a box myself. I agree with Colbey - this set looks terrible, and it really disappointed me that they went with Spectralight instead of Gold.

But, that being said, I would love the Maddux cards if no one else claims them!--Jon

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This is a blog with words about and pictures of trading cards, especially those of the St. Louis Cardinals variety. It's also a not-so-elaborate ruse in which I get to unload my undesirables on unsuspecting fellow collectors.